Pittsburgh Steelers: Le’Veon Bell unlikely to return in 2018
Pittsburgh Steelers’ running back Le’Veon Bell has yet to sign his franchise tender, and might not report to the team at all.
The Le’Veon Bell roller coaster is likely to come to an end soon in Pittsburgh, or is it? The money hungry running back has been teasing his return over the past 10 weeks of the season. Like most, this Saga has to come to an end eventually. The challenge is understanding when. Bell has openly claimed he was going to return multiple times and has proven the other, so why should we believe these reports?
According to Adam Schefter, the All-Pro running back is unlikely to return to the team by the Tuesday deadline, forfeiting his eligibility for the 2018 season.
The claim is more likely to be true than not only because it is consistent with what we have seen so far from Bell and his agent. It is clear that Bell’s free agency stock has dropped, and there has been a new realization among Bell and his associates that next year’s franchise tag will match the market for quarterbacks. It is incredible how little is known about the franchise tag around the NFL. This is important because monetarily there is a significant raise that the Steelers would owe Le’Veon if they were to tag him again next year.
˙˙˙ɯǝɥʇ uo ʎןɹɐǝןɔ s’ʇɐɥʇ &˙˙˙sǝuıן ǝɥʇ uǝǝʍʇǝq pɐǝɹ ʎןdɯıs ʇsnظ oʇ ǝɯıʇ ǝɥʇ ǝʞɐʇ ʇ’uop ǝןdoǝd ʇsoɯ ʇnq˙˙˙op p’noʎ ʇɐɥʍ ʇ’usı sıɥʇ ǝqʎɐɯ ǝsnɐɔǝq suoısıɔǝp ʎɯ ɟɟo ǝɯ ǝbpnظ ʇ’uop˙˙˙buıop ɯ’ı ʇɐɥʍ ʇnoqɐ pǝıɹɹoʍ & ǝɟıן ʎɯ uo uoıuıdo uɐ sɐɥ ʎpoqʎɹǝʌǝ ʇnoqɐ ʇsnظ
— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) November 7, 2018
ʇuıod ʎɯ pǝʌoɹd ǝʌ’noʎ 'buıʎɐs ɯ’ı ʇɐɥʍ ʇno ǝɹnbıɟ oʇ ǝɯıʇ ǝɥʇ buıpuıɟ ʎןןɐǝɹ ǝɹ’noʎ ɟı osןɐ˙˙˙poıɹǝd 'sɹǝǝd ʎɯ ɟo ʇsǝɹ ǝɥʇ puɐ 'ʎןıɯɐɟ 'ɟןǝsʎɯ ɹoɟ ʇɥbıɹ sı ǝʌǝıןǝq ı ʇɐɥʍ ɹoɟ buızıboןodɐ ʇou ɯ’ı
— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) November 7, 2018
The upgrade to quarterback money almost guarantees that the Steelers will not tag Bell and will either let him walk as an unrestricted free agent or transition tag him, which is another mess of a situation. This reason is paired with the fact that Bell has recently changed his social media biographies from “Pittsburgh Steelers Running Back” to “All-Pro NFL Running Back”. The trolling and upside-down twitter posts are now leading to the inevitable end to this annoyance of a situation.
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Bell has held out for quite some time, and it is very likely that this situation is closed without him stepping foot in the Pittsburgh Steelers facility. Who would have thought the talented back’s last game would be in a loss to the Jaguars at home, in the AFC Divisional round.